FROM PASTOR TIM JOHNSON:
We’re off to a good start in our series on Romans 9-11. Thank you for the feedback and interest in this topic. And, I am delighted that all of our books entitled “Israel Matters” have been purchased. We’re ordering more today!
One saint asked me if the Bible indicated that all the Jews are saved simply by virtue of their covenant through Abraham and because God continues to love them so deeply. That’s a great question.
The short answer is no. No one is saved, Jew or Greek (non-Jews) unless they have repented of being sinners, trusts that Jesus is the Messiah whose death on the cross paid for their sin, and commits to following Him with their lives.
Luke writes in Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in on one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Paul and all the disciples were Jews, and they were saved. But they were saved through faith in Jesus, not by virtue of being “Israelites” who could lay claim to being descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God still loves the Jews because He chose them to be a vessel through whom He would offer universal salvation. For that matter, God still loves atheists, agnostics, “nones”, etc. But He loves Israel differently (not better or worse) in that He chose them to be that vessel of blessing to the nations.
God is thrilled when His people, the Jews, come to faith in Jesus. Paul longed for the day when his fellow Jews would trust Jesus. However, Paul also knew that those Jews who reject Jesus will not be able to stand before God because they will not be able to claim the righteousness of Christ as their “ticket” into heaven.
Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” That includes God’s chosen people; the Jews.
Thanking God for salvation through faith in Jesus, and praying for revival in Beloit, the U.S., the world, and among the worldwide gathering of Israelites.
Rescued by Christ,
Pastor Tim